This invention relates to a water pressure regulator, and in particular, to a water regulator for use in a drinking system in a poultry house which allows for the water regulator, and the drinking system of the poultry house, to automatically be switched between a low pressure operational mode and a higher pressure flushing mode.
Drinking or watering systems for poultry houses are supplied with water at relatively high line pressure (e.g., 20–60 psi). The water is delivered at lower pressure to a watering line extending the length of a poultry house or the like. The watering line has a series of spaced apart watering stations or drinkers therealong at which birds can get water by pecking at a movable pin or lever. One such watering station is shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,522,346 and 5,074,250, both to Clark. For the drinkers to operate properly, the water pressure in the watering line must be reduced to only a few inches of water (i.e., less than 6″–12″ of H2O). Typically, in order to reduce the water pressure, the water passes though a regulator before entering the water line which leads to the drinking stations.
The water in the drinking system may be hard well water. That is, it may contain minerals and solid particles which settle or precipitate out in the pipes and the regulator. Additionally, the chickens are provided with medication and nutritional supplements (such as vitamins) through the water. These supplements can also settle out or be deposited in the drinking system. Thus, it is advantageous that the drinking system be flushed out periodically to prevent the various minerals and particles from accumulating in the regulator and drinking stations, and thus possibly interfering with the operation of the regulator and the drinking stations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,021, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a pressure regulator which overcame many of the problems associated with the some of the more common types of water pressure regulators. This regulator is manually switched between an operating mode and a flush mode. Hence, if a poultry house had several watering lines, each with their own regulator, each pressure regulator for each watering line would have to be independently and manually operated to fully flush the watering system. It would be desirable to have a pressure regulator which could be automatically flushed and which would not have to be manually operated.
Additionally, it would be desirable to flush the watering system at predetermined times. For example, to avoid the drinkers from being operated by the chickens during a flush mode, it is preferable to flush the watering system at night (or when the chicken house is dark), when the chickens are less active. Further, as noted above, medicaments (including vitamins, nutritional supplements, and medicines) are often delivered to the chickens through the watering system. To avoid any undesired interaction between a currently delivered medicament and any previously delivered medicament, it is desirable to flush the watering system prior to the introduction of the medicament into the watering system. Additionally, to help prevent over medication of the chickens, it is desirable to flush the system after a predetermined amount of time after introduction of the medicament to remove excess medicament from the watering pipes. Further, disinfectants can be passed through the watering system to remove germs, bacteria, or other unwanted organisms that may grow in the watering line. Depending on the disinfectant used, it can be desirable to flush the watering system after the disinfectant has been introduced into the watering system. Some medications cannot be mixed with disinfectants. Hence, flushing after disinfecting the watering system will also reduce the possibility of medications from being adversely affected by the disinfectant. Lastly, the temperature in a chicken house can get quite warm, and, as the chicken house warms up, the water in the watering line also warms up. When the chicken house warms up, it would be desirable to promote the drinking of water by the chickens. To do this, the watering system can be flushed to introduce cooler water into the watering system.